New Mac related site (Macs & Other Premium Computers - No i-toys)

[Jaffaman27]

Hello!

I'm a long time follower of this forum and website, but a new member.
I think this is my second time I actually get involved to the conversation.
Anyway..

As said, I've been following mac-related news for quite some time and lately I'm really getting sick of all the i's in them.
Actually it seems that 90% of the news and discussion is about Apples i-products.

I like Apples computers and phone is just a phone to me and nothing more. So I'm not really interested about that kind of products. I think there is others like me here too..?

Also I'm a web designer and a graphic designer and I have my own advertising agency. So making a new website like macrumors wouldn't be a problem technically...don't know about the time, but that's another issue.

So I've been just wondering lately:
Would there be enough interest to a new macintosh related website/community/forum?
A website that would only cover macs. Mac Pro, iMac, Macbook related... maybe iPad (since it's kinda like a computer) if people want that..
But no iPods, iPhones, AppleTVs or whatever iWachingMachine is next...

The site would post mac computer related news and ignite conversation. Also there could be reviews, previews of software & hardware. Maybe even Hackintosh related news if Apple doesn't listen to our needs of workhorse computers.. At least in the discussion boards if not on the front page. All suggestions would be taken into consideration..

I don't want to steal the thunder from MacRumors..
But I was just wondering if there would be interest for a new site with no i-stuff? If not..then it's all good.. but I need a lot of interest if I start to do it, since all extra time is away from my bread and butter and time with my family..
So just be honest...

Sorry for the wall of text...but thanks for reading...
Let's hear your thoughts.

Edit: Apparently I originally put this thread to a wrong place... Apologies for that.
Now we are at the community side of the forum, that's cool, but hopefully people finds this thread since it's damn quite around this part of the forum..

 

[Deepshade]

I think the only problem is getting enough info to make it interesting.

Agreed there is far too much i stuff here. And its become more of an Apple i products promo and information site, rather than Mac rumors.

I'd be interested in an alternate Mac only page I could hit, sign me up.

 

[dissolve]

I think the only problem is getting enough info to make it interesting.

Agreed there is far too much i stuff here. And its become more of an Apple i products promo and information site, rather than Mac rumors.

I'd be interested in an alternate Mac only page I could hit, sign me up.

Completely agree. News would be scarce, but I think the community would be very resourceful. I'd certainly be a visitor as well.

 

[Jaffaman27]

I think the only problem is getting enough info to make it interesting.

Agreed there is far too much i stuff here. And its become more of an Apple i products promo and information site, rather than Mac rumors.

I'd be interested in an alternate Mac only page I could hit, sign me up.

That's true. And one thing I'm aware too.
But that could be something the community could help with..
What kind of info/news people want to see?

Of course all the news regarding new products and updates etc.
All the mac-stuff that macrumours report also, but what else?
I know that nowadays that's not a lot..

At least I would be personally interested to see more out of the box stuff here too.. I mean how to install SSD to your iMac and how would that make a difference or something related. Tests etc.
I know that info is also available if you search through the forums or other sites, but all the info is there and there and hard to grasp if you are not confident to open your iMac etc.
That kind of stuff for example.

 

[ethical]

While it's a good idea, the thing is that MacRumors DOES cover all Apple related stuff...Mac and i-. The only reason it seems like bit of an i-Fest at the moment is because not much has gone on in the world of Apple relating to non-i products. If you ran a website purely devoted to non-i stuff, at times like this where i-news is the only news, you'd have nothing to post on your site. You'd have to rely on old news generating interest, and it could easily get quite stale.

 

[Deepshade]

That's true. And one thing I'm aware too.
But that could be something the community could help with..
What kind of info/news people want to see?

I think its all or nothing. Either you do a site dedicated to just new mac based info. Or not at all. If its a mixed bag you are just duplicating Macrumors. IF I go to a rumor site I don't really want to see the MacPro section filled with things like info on how to flash a videocard UNLESS it may be relevant to a new release. Certainly don't want to see extremely bad mockups of MacPros even if they are jokes. That really kills the credibility of the site.

 

[Jaffaman27]

I know what you all mean about the shortage of mac-news lately,
and looking at Apples direction in their business it's probably not going to change dramatically in the near future.

But all the mac-news would probably cover 1/3 of the articles in the site I have in mind.

On the rest of the articles I would need your suggestions and help.

First and foremost the forum would be the heart of the site and hopefully I would be able to get people there to discuss about the things that matters for us mac users. That would be the fuel to keep the site alive even if there would be shortage of good mac-news.

That would be maybe 2/3 of the site...
Highlighting the discussion on the boards (on the frontpage) is something I have in mind. More so than for example macrumors do at the moment.

The rest 30-50% of the content would be in your hands.
I see a lot of topics of different kind: Small reviews, previews, recommendations etc etc. What is a good app for this & that...

I would like to build the site in a way that encourages people to write small reviews of their hardware, software, games etc. That would happen in the forums, but moderators/admins could pick good and fresh topics from those...Maybe tune them a bit with images etc. And give those forum "articles" a stage on the frontpage in a form of a user review or such.
So everyone could be famous in my site..

Also as I pointed out earlier there could be tutorials and how-to articles..
For example that iMac SSD update etc.

I would also like to bring out the rotten apples to public and not hide the flaws of apple product or their mac-business in general.
I don't own apple-shaped-sunglasses and I'm ready to criticize them aswell and bring out alternative solutions wheter it's apple or non-apple. As long as it has something to do with macs.

 

[maflynn]

I understand your perspective, but don't blame the new sites for covering iToys. Apple's focus is completely on the iToys to the detriment of their other lines.

What you're seeing is a natural progression and while many of us old mac users may have some angst, apple is focusing on the sectors that have the largest potential for growth and profits.

For example, take the Mac Pro. The product cycle for that machine has been getting longer and longer. Why? Because its difficult to sell a 3,000 dollar machine in quantities to justify a lot of attention.

The MacPro and MBP have faired a bit better because they're more consumer machines but the fact remains. itoys has more room to expand then the computer line. The computer line is a mature sector and its not going to grow a lot more.

 

[Jaffaman27]

I understand your perspective, but don't blame the new sites for covering iToys. Apple's focus is completely on the iToys to the detriment of their other lines.

Don't worry. I'm not blaming MacRumors or any other Mac-site for covering i-product news. It's totally understandable and probably beneficial for their site and the growth of their site as well.

But as you mentioned there is still a lot of us, who are not too much into that side of apples business.
There for I think there could be interest for mac-only-site.

And whether Apples Macintosh business is going to grow or not is not really relevant as long as they release new mac-products and update the OS X.
As long as that happens there will be people who use their computers and like to contribute to the community of other users.

iToys are here to stay and that's ok. But I hope that Apple realizes at some point that their core-business is and should still be computers not gadgets.

 

[chaosbunny]

I like Apples computers and phone is just a phone to me and nothing more. So I'm not really interested about that kind of products. I think there is others like me here too..?

I couldn't agree more!

 

[chedda]

Tired of toys.

I couldn't agree more!

I concur iphone is a fail as a phone too big etc etc. Why do i need a colour screen on my phone to look good or to eat battery ? Do i need all those features really ? Gotta love a simple nokia, phone, tex,t alarm clock that's it, oh and maybe snake ! I dig the ipod classic and nano 1&2G the rest, touch, pad, ,phone meh.


What i am really interested in is raw desktop power and OSX

 

[Hellhammer]

New site always has a problem, the biggest one being the lack of members. A button for Mac news in the menu panel would IMO solve a lot issues (just made a thread about it).

 

[Schtumple]

I'd say go for it, 9-5 Mac effectively sprung up from no where after a few accurate rumors. Worth a shot at least, just make sure if you sink money into it, you be cautious incase it doesn't work out as planned.

 

[Jaffaman27]

New site always has a problem, the biggest one being the lack of members. A button for Mac news in the menu panel would IMO solve a lot issues (just made a thread about it).

You are right. That would solve a lot of issues here on mac rumors. And effectively make this site more user friendly.
And I'm very well aware of the problem you mentioned with new sites.
But if everyone would think that way and would be too afraid to start cuz of that..there wouldn't be any new sites..right? So no progress or evolution would happen.

I'm not planning to launch just a mac rumors clone-site without the i-toy news. There wouldn't be much point in that. Your suggestion would be all we need. But there is other stuff that I find mac rumors is lacking...

As said before the site would include stuff you want to read about.

1. The Macintosh News (obviously)
2. Hyper-Active Forum
3. User Reviews & Guides etc. Highlighted (hand picked from the forums)
4. ....what else?

I have no resources to do everything on my own.
No time...and no money to buy products just to test & review them.
That's not my intention..
I would need an active community and the site would be community driven.
Community would have a huge impact what they want to see and also provide content.

Is there any point in that? Would there be people willing to write reviews & how-to articles (as they are now already on the forums) for the new site? Would it give you an extra boost to see some of your articles to get a spot on the front page rather than buried somewhere deep in the forums?

 

[Hellhammer]

You are right. That would solve a lot of issues here on mac rumors. And effectively make this site more user friendly.
And I'm very well aware of the problem you mentioned with new sites.
But if everyone would think that way and would be too afraid to start cuz of that..there wouldn't be any new sites..right? So no progress or evolution would happen.

I'm not planning to launch just a mac rumors clone-site without the i-toy news. There wouldn't be much point in that. Your suggestion would be all we need. But there is other stuff that I find mac rumors is lacking...

As said before the site would include stuff you want to read about.

1. The Macintosh News (obviously)
2. Hyper-Active Forum
3. User Reviews & Guides etc. Highlighted (hand picked from the forums)
4. ....what else?

I have no resources to do everything on my own.
No time...and no money to buy products just to test & review them.
That's not my intention..
I would need an active community and the site would be community driven.
Community would have a huge impact what they want to see and also provide content.

Is there any point in that? Would there be people willing to write reviews & how-to articles (as they are now already on the forums) for the new site? Would it give you an extra boost to see some of your articles to get a spot on the front page rather than buried somewhere deep in the forums?

Even though some members would register to the new site, it would still lack the newbies who ask the questions. Most Mac news are originally from other sites, not from MR so I'm afraid it would end up being copying from MR news and just rewriting the piece of news. Forum cannot be active without active users. Most active members in here don't post a lot threads, those are posted by newbies i.e. without newbies - no discussion.

I find forums being the right place for reviews as they are just personal opinions, they don't need more spotlight. Getting something to front page takes time as well because it has to be approved by admins and possibly edited to be suitable. Guides are great but MR already has so many good guides and there are thousands available in the net.

Me and my friend tried this already by creating MacSecrets.net but it never got popular even though we tried to advertise it. Also, it's not free to get a good site, vBulletin costs ~150$ already let alone servers etc. Plenty of people have tried to create a new MacRumors but it's not that easy. Achieving 500 000 users and 10 000 000 posts isn't done in one night. The new site would have to be better than MR or other Mac sites currently are in order to get a lot members. Why would you use something worse if better is available for free?

I understand what you are looking for but you're not the first one trying this. MR has been up for over 10 years, people won't just magically switch to another site I think your/our best bet is to figure out ways how MR could be improved rather than thinking about whole new site. In addition, you would have to do the hard work, not just "well, I have this idea but I don't have time to this and this and that but could somebody plz do that for free"

 

[Jaffaman27]

Even though some members would register to the new site, it would still lack the newbies who ask the questions. Most Mac news are originally from other sites, not from MR so I'm afraid it would end up being copying from MR news and just rewriting the piece of news. Forum cannot be active without active users. Most active members in here don't post a lot threads, those are posted by newbies i.e. without newbies - no discussion.

I find forums being the right place for reviews as they are just personal opinions, they don't need more spotlight. Getting something to front page takes time as well because it has to be approved by admins and possibly edited to be suitable. Guides are great but MR already has so many good guides and there are thousands available in the net.

Me and my friend tried this already by creating MacSecrets.net but it never got popular even though we tried to advertise it. Also, it's not free to get a good site, vBulletin costs ~150$ already let alone servers etc. Plenty of people have tried to create a new MacRumors but it's not that easy. Achieving 500 000 users and 10 000 000 posts isn't done in one night. The new site would have to be better than MR or other Mac sites currently are in order to get a lot members. Why would you use something worse if better is available for free?

I understand what you are looking for but you're not the first one trying this. MR has been up for over 10 years, people won't just magically switch to another site I think your/our best bet is to figure out ways how MR could be improved rather than thinking about whole new site. In addition, you would have to do the hard work, not just "well, I have this idea but I don't have time to this and this and that but could somebody plz do that for free"

I understand your "pessimism" a bit better now...
You have experience on trying and it didn't pay off...
Not saying in any negative way.

And I also understand all you are saying. And I'm well aware of the issues and I'm not going to rush and do something and die trying..

But why wouldn't the newbies follow as well? And make new forum threads?
And why would vbulletin be necessary? There is free forums available..

And I'm not saying I would "use" the community to my advantage.
I just think they have a lot to say and lot to give and I think they deserve a stage (not only a forum) to share their thoughts and knowledge.

Also Internet has evolved in the last 10 years a lot..
MacRumors looks super dated, it's not the most user friendly site either..
That's one thing I could easily update. And I think reviews have a place in front page... Even tho they are only one mans opinion, but it can be useful info for many. And ignite discussion and bring other options out to public. Also forums are full of how-to articles, but as you said it's somewhere there. Why not gather them somewhere for people to find easily...

I'm just throwing ideas out there and thinking out loud...
And I appreciate your comments. I've seen you around and you seem to be active here and in hopeinen omena I think aswell if I'm not totally wrong.

Anyway... Any other thoughts? Positive / Negative...

I concur iphone is a fail as a phone too big etc etc. Why do i need a colour screen on my phone to look good or to eat battery ? Do i need all those features really ? Gotta love a simple nokia, phone, tex,t alarm clock that's it, oh and maybe snake ! I dig the ipod classic and nano 1&2G the rest, touch, pad, ,phone meh.


What i am really interested in is raw desktop power and OSX

I'm right there with you... So that's why I'm here with my topic of discussion.

 

[Hellhammer]

But why wouldn't the newbies follow as well? And make new forum threads?
And why would vbulletin be necessary? There is free forums available..

Newbies usually find this site through Google so the new site would have to be easily findable and the issue is that most good domains have already been taken so that's already one hard question, what would be its name? Of course I don't know would newbies follow or not but it's hard to get attention in the net nowadays as there are so many sites, unless yours is a porn site vBulletin is one of the best ones as far as I know, most free ones I've seen aren't that great

Also Internet has evolved in the last 10 years a lot..
MacRumors looks super dated, it's not the most user friendly site either..
That's one thing I could easily update. And I think reviews have a place in front page... Even tho they are only one mans opinion, but it can be useful info for many. And ignite discussion and bring other options out to public. Also forums are full of how-to articles, but as you said it's somewhere there. Why not gather them somewhere for people to find easily...

I agree that MR look old and has some issues with its simpleness so that's definitely one thing that could easily be improved but making a site that looks outstanding and actually works isn't an easy job but with hard work, it can accomplished. People are lazy to search, they rather start a new thread and let someone else do the job. Having guides in one place is a good idea but it requires a lot work and frequent updating.

I'm just throwing ideas out there and thinking out loud...
And I appreciate your comments. I've seen you around and you seem to be active here and in hopeinen omena I think aswell if I'm not totally wrong.

Im not criticizing you, everyone can throw out ideas, that's what I'm doing all the time I just think that it's too much work for something that may and in my opinion, will end up being nothing unless you put a lot € towards advertising. I'm not stopping you from doing that, just being not that optimist about it. I would end up joining it anyway It would need to have something that other sites don't, that's not an easy job.

Oh, and if 9 posts in Hopeinen Omena is count as active, then I am

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I may never see this thread again, so PM me if you want to get in touch, however...

I started coming here just after the original iPod /w jog wheel was released. Over the years, the amount of iNews has really started to bug me, and the quality of discussion has dropped.

I can make websites - I know HTML 4 (none of this HTML 5 bs ), PHP, Javascript, Photoshop, and would be willing to help in any manner.

Also, I think a lot of people look at Apple because the computers look good. What if, instead of competing with MacRumors on Apple, you instead made a site dedicated to "pretty" computers, such as the MBP, Dell Vostro, or HP Envy.

 

[RT2020]

No...I don't care if the next ipod touch is rumoured to have a camera... or iAds or ipads or ifads.

I think given the direction Apple is heading in, a website focused on high-end computing in general (along the lines of the previous poster) would interest me the most (even if the Mac was the main focus).

 

[Love]

I would LOVE to see this. Sometimes seeing so much iOS crap makes me want to chop off heads of pigeons in the front fans of my Mac Pro then throw them in to powerlines...


...okay, maybe not that, but it does get annoying after a while being on iRumours and not MacRumours. I would be willing to help you with that site and getting it off the ground - PM me or hit me up on AIM.

 

[Jaffaman27]

Thanks for the interest and suggestions for everyone so far.
And I appreciate the input from Hellhammer who have tried the same and giving me insights what might await me.

And to JadedMonkey. Thanks for the offering, I might some day (if I go all the way and decide to do something) ask for your assistant.
edit: And Mr. Love too...

And there might be an idea behind the general high-end computer site as well.
Not only Macs. But I see few possible problems in that...

1. High-End is hard to determine..What is high-end? There is not many macs that are high-end in my mind. So that would limit too much... And at the same time make it too wide category. The point is to have macs there after all..
--> Solution: Maybe have premium computers. Macs are premium, high-end or not. Then Sony Vaio-line is there and the ones you mentioned, Dell etc. That maybe easier definition/Category.

2. I know that most Apple fans can be too blind to see anything good about other computers than mac. And so for they like to stick with people who think alike. Not saying that all are like that...And it's not just Apple fans. Fanboyism in general.
--> The problem: Do the community follow or find my site? They might think that my site is not for them since it takes account other computer manufacturers as well. Do you think this might be a problem?

The benefits of having more than just Macs is kind of obvious tho..
1. Bigger audience
2. More content and not only dependent on Apples product news

Ok..if I would go that way..what there should be?

1. Mac computers (Mac Pros, iMacs, Macbooks)
2. Tablet computers (iPad & competitors: Android, Meego etc.)
3. Other premium computers (HP Envy, Sony Vaio etc.)
4. Hardware & Software related stuff for those...
5. ...?

So nothing about phones (iPhone or others), iPods etc.
You wouldn't see any articles/news about "will iPhone survive a 2m fall" or "How AT&T sucks" or whatever... No news about Steve Jobs named to be something or other...or what Steve wrote from his iPad (unless it really is relevant to mac business)... No apple stock news either.

So suggestions for what you would like to be covered and what not?
Also name suggestions for Premium Computer site are welcome..

 

[Hellhammer]

Ok..if I would go that way..what there should be?

I would keep the spotlight on Macs, forget the PCs as two platforms is too big to handle. There are new PCs coming like every month, even more often. Maybe some minor news about PCs e.g. "Acer's competitor for 13" MBP" and such, so that the spotlight is kept on Macs and PCs are mainly used for comparing. You don't want to write a new article every time Windows gets a new security update Having both, Macs and PCs might also confuse people so they don't know is the site Mac or PC focused (and possibly not register because of that)

1. Mac computers (Mac Pros, iMacs, Macbooks)
2. Tablet computers (iPad & competitors: Android, Meego etc.)
3. Other premium computers (HP Envy, Sony Vaio etc.)
4. Hardware & Software related stuff for those...
5. ...?

I would drop iPad as it's almost like iPhone and most news that are about iPad affect iPhone and vice versa so if you want iPhone-free site, then it's better to leave iPad out. It's not a Mac

So suggestions for what you would like to be covered and what not?
Also name suggestions for Premium Computer site are welcome..

Two quick names that came to my mind: macium.com & premiumtoshes.com (both would combine Macintosh and premium)

There is no other interesting threads going on so I didn't have anything else to do but reply to this

 

[Jaffaman27]

Hi ya all.. I had a busy day so I haven't been able to comment anything since the morning.

I would keep the spotlight on Macs, forget the PCs as two platforms is too big to handle. There are new PCs coming like every month, even more often. Maybe some minor news about PCs e.g. "Acer's competitor for 13" MBP" and such, so that the spotlight is kept on Macs and PCs are mainly used for comparing. You don't want to write a new article every time Windows gets a new security update Having both, Macs and PCs might also confuse people so they don't know is the site Mac or PC focused (and possibly not register because of that)

I understand your point and I wouldn't be making news about win-updates or such. More about just other premium laptops or desktops that naturally compete with the Macs as well. More news on mac stuff, but news about those premium computers as well. Release news and such.. And OS X would be naturally my main focus what comes for the operating system articles. But I think it would be good idea to cover other brand-computers also so people would be aware of what is offered on the other side of the fence.

I would drop iPad as it's almost like iPhone and most news that are about iPad affect iPhone and vice versa so if you want iPhone-free site, then it's better to leave iPad out. It's not a Mac

I understand this...but I have my reasons...but don't know if it's just me.
- Tablets are in a way unnecessary so in a way they are premium stuff. But so are many others. I would only cover the decent/premium ones. Same thing as with PCs.
- I would like to cover the living room computing as well.
- I would cover iPad, but other new comers as well. Windows, Android, Meego etc.
- These news would be in their own category so if you don't care, you don't need to see them.
- I would also like to find out & cover how these tablets can be used in professional work.
- I'm not going to cover all the small "no one cares" news as the apple sites do now. Something interesting and release news & update rumors or news etc. Not something like "iPad gets facetime"..duh..

Two quick names that came to my mind: macium.com & premiumtoshes.com (both would combine Macintosh and premium)
There is no other interesting threads going on so I didn't have anything else to do but reply to this

Thanks for the suggestions.. And I don't mind. You are very welcome here.

 

[Jaffaman27]

Hmm.. This thread needs a poll..
How could I do that? Can't seem to find an option for that...

 

[Hellhammer]

Hmm.. This thread needs a poll..
How could I do that? Can't seem to find an option for that...

As far as I know, you cannot add it later on, it has to be done when creating the thread